Woman Struck By Tri-rail Train In Hollywood

6:18 p.m. EDT, October 8, 2013 A possibly suicidal woman lying on train tracks just south of the Tri-Rail station at Hollywood Boulevard was struck by a commuter train early Tuesday, police said. The woman, thought to be in her late 30s or early 40s, was taken to Memorial Regional Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, according to Hollywood Police Lt. Osvaldo Perez. It might be a suicide, Perez said. The incident was reported shortly before 7 a.m. just south of the station, which is just west of Interstate 95. During the investigation, Hollywood Boulevard was temporarily closed in both directions near the Tri-Rail station. The southbound I-95 exit to Hollywood Boulevard was also temporarily closed Tuesday morning. The woman’s death remains under investigation.

John Lennon’s star on Hollywood Walk of Fame defaced by vandals

The stars understand that this is a huge market and they are brands, Mischer said. This is an opportunity to reach that new market, which supposedly is going to be the number one market in the world soon — theres no question that people in our business want to connect to the audience here. Ill go wherever the work is and wherever the people [who watch films] are to say thank you, said Worthington, who remains a major star in China, thanks to Avatar, still the highest grossing film in the country ever, at $221.9 million. The worlds tiny and it’s getting smaller, he added backstage after receiving his best global action movie actor prize. PHOTOS: Studios’ New Box Office Pain: Homegrown Films Are Beating Tentpoles Overseas The event indeed showcased a remarkable diversity of backgrounds and talent. From the Chinese industry Jackie Chan, Wong Kar Wai, John Woo each took the stage to present or receive awards. Musical segments ranged from performances by K-Pop star Steve Yoo, Japanese-Brazillian bossa nova singer Lisa Ono, Avril Lavigne (Huadings best global singer), who performed her hits Girlfriend and Heres to Never Growing Up, along with an impassioned song from the winner of the best traditional Chinese opera singer category. With a few small logistical delays and no cap on acceptance speech lengths, the show ran nearly four hours.Translations of the proceedings were intermittent. Stepping behind the podium late in the night to receive her best global actress in motion pictures trophy, Nicole Kidman thanked the crowd and said, I havent understood all of it, but Ive had a great time being a spectator. She added that she hopes to come back and make a film in China — and to show her daughters the country someday. Jackie Chan next presented Tarantino with the best global director in motion pictures award a somewhat surprising honor for the celebrated pop auteur, given the difficulties he encountered in releasing his last film Django Unchained in China (it was suddenly pulled from theaters on its opening day in the country and only re-released weeks later after cuts were made to tone down its bloody sequences Tarantino curtly declined to comment on the imbroglio when asked about it backstage Monday night). Referring to the director as his best friend, Chan thanked Tarantino for all the years he supported both himself and Chinese cinema, back when Jackie Chan was nobody. In his acceptance speech, Tarantino noted his lifelong love for Chinese martial arts cinema and said, When I did Kill Bill, that was my tribute to yalls cinema. I shot that in Beijing at the Beijing Film Studios that Maos wife created, and I was there for a year shooting Kill Bill… I love Chinese cinema, so to get this from the Chinese people and Chinese film industry, means everything to me. Nicolas Cage told THR backstage that he flew in for the event from a village three hours south of Beijing, where he is currently filming Nick Powells Outcast, with Hayden Christensen and Yifei Liu his first project in the country. I was excited to do a film here, as I believe in the genius loci of a place — the ‘genie’ of the place is what I call it and I absorb that energy and it affects performance.

Hollywood’s culture of indulgence comes with a price

“This is history. It’s a historic monument and should be respected, not desecrated like that.” George Stroud/Getty Images The star was defaced with markings over the weekend – just days before what would have been Lennons (pictured in 1969) 73rd birthday. Martinez, who produces the Walk of Fame ceremonies for the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, said she learned about the vandalism Sunday night after a tour guide discovered the markings Saturday and alerted Beatles journalist Steve Marinucci, who in turn reached out to her. I saw it and just thought, ‘What morons did this?’ It was just so tacky,” tour guide Gillian Lomax told The News Tuesday. “Maybe John would have liked it if it said something funny, but it was stupid teenage crap.” RELATED: ONO! YOKO ACCUSED TO STYLE PLAGIARISM Lomax visits the Vine Street location regularly for her Beatles-based “A Magical History Tour” and said the adjacent stars for fellow Beatles George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney were untouched. She said it looked like multiple people were involved because the scribbles, which included a cartoon mushroom and smiley face, appeared to be in different handwriting styles. MICHAEL THURSTON/AFP/Getty Images The nearby stars honoring Lennons fellow Beatles – Paul McCartney, Ringo Star and George Harrison — were left untouched. I bent down to try to get some of the stuff off, but it wouldn’t budge,” she said. “I was worried we were in trouble.” PHOTOS: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF JOHN LENNON Martinez said she immediately contacted the Hollywood Historic Trust, the nonprofit that maintains and repairs the stars, and they were able to get the contractor making the star for Kenny (Babyface) Edmonds’ ceremony on Thursday to respond. The Edmonds ceremony is taking place just a couple blocks away, and the contractor sent someone to clean, polish and re-seal Lennon’s star within hours, she said.

Hollywood A-List Turns Out in Force for China’s Version of the Oscars

coroner has reported. He was found in the Fairmont Pacific Rim on July 13. Should you ever have the misfortune to stumble onto a godawful 1974 movie called The Klansman, it will quickly become evident that Richard Burton is drunk on screen. As for co-star Lee Marvin, although he doesnat quite match Burtonas condition of rheumy-eyed catatonia, he gives every indication of suffering from a monstrous hangover. Both actors brought their booze problem onto the set a yet producers tolerated it and filmed anyway. They had hired Burton and Marvin knowing full well they were drunks. Paramount was still prepared to cough up the extra insurance for its dangerously combustible stars and tolerate their condition. Forty years later, Hollywood still shows remarkable forbearance toward its errant talent. Consider the tragedy of Canadian-born Cory Monteith. To be sure, the tearful tribute scheduled for Thursday nightas episode of Glee is no doubt inevitable. Monteith had made lovable jock Finn Hudson an endearing character on the hit Fox series. But the circumstances of his July death still throw a bleak shadow over this televised memorial: The final coroneras report confirmed that Calgary-born, Victoria-raised Monteith was shooting heroin and drinking champagne when he died in a Vancouver hotel room the night of July 12. This week, Time magazine commentator David Sheff rightly worried about the probability of romanticizing what he bluntly described as aa ghastly, lonely deatha and of sanitizing the details. But beyond that, there are valid questions about how the entertainment industry responds to the recurring problem of substance abuse within its ranks and its frequent readiness to look the other way until matters spin out of control. This, after all, is a culture that accommodated River Phoenixas descent into a drug-induced death on a sidewalk outside Johnny Deppas Viper Club and turned a blind eye to Kelsey Grammeras booze problem until the star of TVas Frasier totalled his car and ended up in the Betty Ford rehabilitation centre.